French farce is bad news for Irish

SIX NATIONS champions France have remained under the radar this autumn with low-profile winning performances against Fiji and Argentina going largely unnoticed. That was before Australia arrived at the Stade de France Saturday night and dismantled their hosts 59-16.

On commentary duty for RTÉ, I had the perfect excuse to cast a watchful eye over two sides that will have a big bearing on Irish rugby fortunes over the next 10 months.

In typical French fashion, coach Marc Lievremont has already deemed Grand Slam backs from last season, Clement Poitrenaud, Mathieu Bastareaud and Vincent Clerc, surplus to requirements for one reason or another. One suspects, after the events of Saturday night, not for much longer.